


Of Weird Biscuits and Pastries (And Your Name, Please?)

by Angel_Bazethiel



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fae & Fairies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Folklore, Gen, M/M, Mythology - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 01:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18129152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Bazethiel/pseuds/Angel_Bazethiel
Summary: Word of advice, you shouldn't just give your name so freely. Names have power, you know.





	Of Weird Biscuits and Pastries (And Your Name, Please?)

It was a Monday.

Arthur Pendragon was already up since the crack of dawn. He had his morning jog, got his shower interrupted because of a burst pipeline somewhere downtown, had his breakfast, found out he was out of coffee and his assistant forgot to fetch some for him, and got stuck in traffic because of a road accident.

Yes, it was a Monday.

Before going straight to the office he went to his favourite coffee place since he definitely will need coffee to survive this day. It's a small place, very quaint; located half a block from Arthur's office building. Not a lot of people know about the place so there weren't many people inside. This was what made the place Arthur's favourite. He wouldn't need to wait for precious minutes in line just to get his coffee. And well, the coffee is great, too.

Also, the place was owned by a nice woman named Hunith. She would often give desserts to Arthur to "sweeten up his life" as he likes his coffee dark and no sugar. They weren't much, just some biscuit or tartlets, but they were amazing. And so whenever Hunith sneaks some more in his bag he makes sure to leave a huge tip anonymously in the shop's tip jar.

Hunith always has a bright smile on her face when greeting her customers. She would ask him how his day was (he'd usually come to the shop during afternoon breaks since he usually takes his morning coffee at home). And she dotes on his nonexistent sweet tooth.

Arthur never met his mother nor had any motherly figure in his life. And Hunith is slowly filling in that position in Arthur's heart.

So, really, who could blame him when he suddenly blurted out a somewhat rude comment when he didn't see her on the other side of the counter that Monday?

"You're not Hunith."

The man behind the register raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Very astute of you, Mr Prat. Now may I take your order?"

It was Arthur's turn to be aghast, "You can't talk to me like that."

"Well, I'm sorry your highness, but you were rude to me first."

"I wasn't being rude. I asked a question."

"You _stated_ a very rude _statement_."

"You shouldn't be in the service industry then if you're easily offended. May I speak to your manager?"

"Seeing as I didn't want to be here and I was forced by _my mam_ as she went off to some island in the Caribbean with my da, then I'm all you have."

"You're Hunith's son?" Arthur incredulously asked. This ill-mannered man couldn't possibly be related to kind Hunith.

The man narrowed his eyes at Arthur, "Yes. Now may I take your order?"

Arthur sighed and his eyes flitted down to his watch. Oh no, he spent too much time than he ought to in ordering his coffee. This should have been a pleasant encounter to make up for his rather tiring start. Instead, he was saddled by this impossibly Hunith's son.

"Just coffee please, black, large."

The man punched in his order and asked for Arthur's payment. He then proceeded to make his drink without asking for his name. So Arthur asked, "Aren't you going to ask for my name?"

"I think I'll be able to remember which drink is whose especially if the drink is as dark as the buyer's soul."

"Oh, ha-ha," Arthur said sarcastically.

"Why don't you take a seat while I make your coffee?" The man asked with a smile that would have been called sweet if Arthur hadn't thought of it as sinister. "I'll just call you over when it's done."

And true to his word the man called him a few minutes later with a loud "Large coffee for the blond prat!"

Some of the people present snickered at this, but Arthur held his head up high. He went by the counter where the man stood with his coffee and a small brown bag.

The man was beaming when he said, "Here's your order, Mr Prat. Have a nice day!" He handed the two things to Arthur.

Arthur raised the brown bag and said, "I didn't order anything else."

"Just take it. It just might make you less of a dollophead."

Arthur opened his mouth to argue but the man was already attending to a newly arrived customer.

 

It was later when Arthur was already in his office did he finally looked at what the bag contained.

Inside were mango tartlets.

Okay, maybe he really was Hunith's son.

 

\--

 

Later that day when Arthur went to the shop during his afternoon break the man was nowhere to be found. And a gentlewoman was behind the counter. (Gwen her name pin said.)

Arthur told himself he wasn't disappointed.

But he vowed to come back tomorrow morning to thank the man and leave a tip. After all, the tartlets were phenomenal.

He forgot to tell his assistant to buy him some grinds anyway.

(Also, he remembered that the man wasn't wearing any name pin earlier. He needed the man's name so he could formally file a complaint.

And yes, that was the only reason.)

 

The next day the man welcomed him with an "I knew those tartlets were a good idea."

Before Arthur could tell the man what he had to say, the man said with a bright smile, "Go and take a seat. I know just what you need for this lovely Tuesday morning."

Arthur was surprised and confused with the man ordering him around to say anything else, so he reluctantly complied.

When his drink was done, the man called out, "To the Dollophead from yesterday!"

"Now who's being the rude one?" Arthur finally got a word in as he reached the counter. "What even is a dollophead?"

"In two words?" Arthur raised an eyebrow as the man continued, "Mr Prat."

"That's getting old, you know."

"Oh, you would be surprised by how much I could come up with nicknames for prats like you."

"All of them as stupid as the ones before, I presume. Speaking of names, what should I call you, then?"

The man pursed his lips and missed a beat. Arthur then felt like he overstepped some kind of boundary, but wasn't it common for consumers to know their server's name? Before Arthur could take back his statement though, the man answered.

"You _may call_ me Em."

Arthur started to say his name in return, but the man raised his hand to stop him.

"I'm fine with Mr Prat, thanks. Also, word of advice, you shouldn't just give your name so freely. Names have power, you know."

Somehow, the mood dimmed and Em turned serious. It only lasted for only a few seconds but for the rest of the day, Arthur was reeling with the odd statement.

Maybe it's just part of Em's eccentric nature?

He got some butter biscuits that day.

 

\--

 

The next few days went like this.

To Em's word, Arthur got more nicknames.

"Order for the Cabbagehead in a suit!"

"One to-go for the Clotpole!"

"For a Bone-Idle Toad!"

"Cheers for Mr Donkey Ears!"

"Some out-of-bed to the Turniphead!"

Arthur ignored them usually as they stopped being insults on the second day. Although, Arthur thought it was pretty unfair that the other customers were called "the lovely lady in a sundress," or "Mr Cool Dude."

So Arthur grumbled about this to Em one day.

"Awww, you don't like your nicknames?" Em pouted in reply, "Well, how about ‘Your Highness,' then? After all, you sure act like a royal prat." Then he smiled as if this was the best idea he ever had, "Alright! I'll call you ‘your highness' or ‘sire' or whatever other addresses that are only fitting for a royal prat."

Needless to say, nothing really changed after that.

 

Another new thing was the treats that came with Arthur's coffee. They weren't the usual biscuits or tartlets Hunith used to give him. At first, Arthur thought none of it but when he ate a tartlet with a filling that tasted like lychee but richer and creamier, he asked Em the next day about it.

"It's not lychee. It's actually a fruit called rambutan. It's common in Southeast Asian countries. I have a friend who's from there so I have some imported. I'm trying to see whether it's okay as a tart so I asked said friend to make it into a tart. It's good, right?"

It was. Em beamed at him when he said so and went to the back. He brought out some hairy-looking fruits and gave one to Arthur and got one for himself. The rest went in Arthur's to-go bag.

"Here's the fruit. To eat it, just pinch it in the side until you cut a slit in the skin then open it. Pop the flesh right into your mouth," Em did as he instructed and he had the fruit in his mouth as he continued, "But be careful though. There's a seed in the middle. After eating all the flesh, you could just spit the seed right out."

Arthur must have a look of disgust since Em said after, "Of course, for a posh man like you, you could always just cut the seed out or something."

Other pastries Arthur got to try were camachile (a weird looking biscuit that looks like a tamarind), jacobina (a crunchy small rectangular biscuit that was hard to eat, much to Arthur's annoyance), lengua de gato (which wasn't what Arthur would have called them), otap (one that was messy to eat), and piaya (which became Arthur's favourite so far since he can eat it neatly and the filling wasn't too sweet).

Arthur started to look forward to tomorrow just to try another one of these weird biscuits and pastries.

So he kept coming in the mornings even if his coffee was already restocked.

It's for the weird biscuits and pastries, really.

 

\--

 

"Hello, I'm Fi. May I take your order?"

"You're not Em." Oh, would you look at how the tables have turned.

"Em?"

"Yes, the idiot who had been working here during the mornings?"

"Oh, _Em_. He went out. I usually man the kitchen but he needed to buy something. You're the royal prat he's been talking about? The one he's been giving my masterpieces?"

"I wouldn't say give, I _pay_ for them."

"Yeah, but you always get the beta batch before it's out for the public."

Huh. Arthur didn't know that, but he decided to drop it at the moment and said, "And they taste wonderful."

Fi smiled and said her thanks. She then asked for his order and punched it in.

"May I have your name?"

Arthur, without second thinking about it, said, "It's Arth –"

That was when Em came out of nowhere with a loud, "Your Highness! You're early today, aren't you? I see you've met Fi. Lovely isn't she? Thank you, Fi, I'll take it from here. Or better yet, get me some young coconut pie for our lord here?" Em said all of that quickly and without pause that should have confused Arthur, but after a couple of weeks now, he's used to the man's weirdness.

"But he was just about to give –"

"Please be a dear, _Freya_?"

Fi – Freya? – hummed her vexation, but she obeyed and went to the back. Em then looked at him with exasperation and breathlessly asked, "What did I say about giving out your name so loosely?"

"That's what people _do_ , Em. Come to think of it, I haven't told you my name and we've been friends for two weeks now."

"We're friends?"

Arthur ignored him (and wow, that hurt) and continued, "Let's formally introduce ourselves, shall we? I'll start. My name is Arth–"

"Wait! No, don't!"

"–ur. Arthur Pendragon. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand for Em to shake. The man was shocked as if this was the first time he had an introduction. His eyes were wide and if Arthur was being more attentive to them, he'd say that they flashed golden for a second. It could be just a glare of the light though.

"I'm half-fae!" Em squeaked.

"What?"

 

\--

 

Arthur decided to stay for most of the morning that day.

Em explained to him how he was half-fae and how giving him a name gave him some power over its owner. He then explained that he was just going to manage the shop for a month since his father could only step in the mortal world once a decade for a month and he wanted his parents to have most of their time together. _It was only for a month_ and Em had been careful not to take any names _until Arthur_.

When Arthur started to laugh at the ridiculous notion, Em threw some coffee beans at him without using his hands.

Oh. Also, magic?

 

"Giving up names is hard, even for a half-fae like me. So I rather not give my name or take anyone else's unless I trust them enough that they won't abuse the power dynamics."

Arthur decided, "You should give me your name. It's only fair."

"I barely know you!"

"Then let's get to know each other more. Go out with me."

Em went pink all over, from his cutting cheekbones to his neck. "What?"

"Let's go out for coffee."

"That's pretty stupid considering we're already in a coffee shop."

"You know what I mean. I also need to know what kind of a person you are, considering you have my name."

"Uh huh."

"And well, you're not bad yourself."

Em scoffed, "I know I'm a catch. But what makes you think I'd like to go out on a date with you?"

"Apparently you've been giving me special treats."

"They weren't special!"

"Does tonight sound good?"

Em let out a long, suffering sigh. "Prat."

 

\--

 

"So, is Freya fae, too? Was that the reason you panicked earlier?"

"Freya isn't fae. She's… different. She's Filipino."

Right. As if that explained it.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hehe. Yes I made Freya Filipino. She's a _diwata_ , by the way. And I couldn't help putting some Filipino treats there hehe. Sorry. Indulgent fic is indulgent. I was actully going to use Sophia in place of Freya. But then I figured that I used something from #ManilaEncounters, it’s only fair to give tribute to some Philippine lore hehe. So I chose her since she looks Filipino enough. ~~Also, I’ve been craving some piaya huuu~~
> 
> Oh, and this fic has been inspired by this [tweet](https://twitter.com/golaaaaaaaan/status/1100234195220090880). I wanted to write something like this since I've seen the tweet. So yeah. Here you go. A result of my procrastination haha. ~~I really should be writing my code but then I wrote this hahahuhu fml~~


End file.
